Not Just Warm Fuzzy Feelings: Insights into History

Each semester I get feedback from students. Sometimes I ask for feedback, and sometimes the feedback arrives in my Inbox without any request on my behalf. What follows are not just some warm and fuzzy feelings from Summer 2021 students, but some insights into history classes. 

“I learned how to think like a historian. I also learned that if I do all the work, I am supposed to at the right time, this class will be awesome! I learned that you are the best professor I have ever known.”

The "think like a historian" is a great insight. I do spend some time in what I call "doing history." An active, participatory aspect of the course as opposed to a passive, note-taking aspect while I lecture. I do train my students to think, perform research, write, and analyze like a historian. And, I am there throughout the process. Like I said, we "do history" in class. We discuss your research or how you plan on making connections between historical events, people, and ideas to contemporary events, people, and ideas. 

“Over the course of this semester, I’ve gained a valuable understanding of how important everyone’s story is.”

In my history class, students have the power to research and write about what they have an interest in. Any historical event, person, or idea. And, because we are the culmination of our past experiences, each student will tackle these historical investigations through the lens of their own experiences. So, BIPOC will produce very needed (and possibly unique) perspectives. Everyone's story is valuable, regardless if it's the story of the writer of history or the historical subject. 

“I think one of my favorite things that I learned to do in this class was to focus on more current issues rather than solely focusing on pure history. . . The essays in this class really focused on current issues and I was able to look back at the history and see how it is currently affecting a specific group of people. I was also able to see direct correlations between different cultural and racial groups and how they impact each other.”

“This class really taught me a lot about my own personal writing style and how to do current research rather than historical research.”

We do not live in a vacuum. We are the result of our experiences. We must place these historical events, people, or ideas in context. History is the culmination of past experiences. And so in order to better understand why the present is the present and how the present became the present, we need to look into the past and connect events, people, and ideas. Those connections, ebb and flow, are what make history history and not other humanities or social sciences such as English or journalism, for example. 

The past is not in the past. The past is part of the contemporary and thus the past and the present cannot diverge, those connections cannot be ignored. 

“I am definitely walking away from this class with a more complete, well-rounded knowledge about history. I’ve shared the information I have learned with my family since I found it so interesting.”

“I have more respect for the Mexican and Mexican American cultures because I have learned more about their struggles, pain, and success in the United States. Their suffering reminds me of my black ancestor. The most important thing I learned is that African Americans and Mexicans are alike in many ways (fighting for civil rights), and the struggles continue to exist because of discrimination.”

Students tend to discover a personalization to my classes. Students are able to connect historical events, people, and ideas with something in their own lives. And the excitement of learning spills over to their personal lives, even to the extent that I have family members sign up for my classes; brother influenced daughter, daughter influenced dad. Share what you learn! You never know who you will inspire.